30

For two weeks, I traveled back and forth between the worlds — but only during my off hours. My job mattered to me, and despite his grumbling, Nevan did not try to convince me to quit. When Stan offered me a promotion to assistant manager, after a moment of head-spinning shock, I accepted. When Stan informed I'd get a big raise, bumping my income up to twice what it had been, I stopped breathing for so long my ears rang.

Everything had gotten better these days.

Every few days, Travis stopped in at the shop to say hi. At first, we endured awkward conversations about the weather, but eventually we found a new dynamic for our relationship. We didn't talk about that night, or about Calder. Travis and Nevan learned to tolerate each other, though I held out no hopes they'd become best buds. As long as they weren't killing each other, I was happy.

Nevan popped in everywhere I went — the shop, my parents' motor home, my new apartment, the freaking grocery store. At least he had the sense to wear normal clothes in public, but in my apartment, he made no efforts to conceal his sylph-ness. I didn't want him to anyway. I'd grown rather fond of his loincloth.

And yeah, we discovered I didn't need to escort him over the boundary as long as I was somewhere in the mortal realm at the time. When I asked him how that could be, he'd given me the sweetest smile and explained.

"You asked me once," he said, "if anything is stronger than a life debt. I suggested one thing might be."

"I remember."

He touched his forehead to mine. "It's love, Lindsey. The force more powerful than any magic. The one that allowed me to forgo my duty and defy Skeiron. You told me love empowers your Janusite magic, and that's because it is the only unbreakable bond in the universe."

I almost balked, but my heart confirmed what he'd suggested. I no longer needed or wanted to deny the power of what we felt for each other. He was right, and the realization imbued me with a heady sensation of freedom and exultation.

At work a few days later, while Nevan was off with Ash and my dad doing heaven knew what, I looked up from restocking the fossil agate bin to find Tris observing me from the opposite end of the aisle.

Hand raised, I waggled my fingers at him. "Hi."

Tris scowled, glancing around as if afraid of getting caught. By mortals or his ilk, I had no idea. Apparently satisfied, he moseyed to me.

"Guess the healing stuck," he said.

"If you're asking how I am, I'm great. Thanks for your concern."

He flinched, probably more at my use of the dreaded T word than my sarcasm. "Yeah, whatever. Just don't go getting yourself mortally wounded again, pun intended. I ain't got enough energy to keep up with you and your boyfriend."

"I'll try." I patted his cheek. "You're very sweet to come check on me."

Tris scowled again, though with less sincerity.

"I've been wondering," I said, "why you got so wiped out from healing me and not from healing Nevan."

"You were way more damaged than him. Besides, repairing two almost-dead people in less than a day will tax any leprechaun."

"Ah." I'd forgotten how close together our near-deaths had come. "I appreciate you risking your own skin to save us. You're a good boy."

"Jeez, lady." Tris did an excellent impression of a snottily embarrassed teenager. "Quit calling me nice things. I got a rep to uphold."

"I'll be sure to spread it around you're a heartless little bastard."

He smiled, for real. "Could ya?"

"Absolve her this instant," said a deep voice from behind me.

My body awakened, responding to Nevan's voice even before I turned sideways to stay in view of both Tris and Nevan. My sylph wore tight jeans and a tan T-shirt, his every muscle on display.

I clasped his hand. The action had become instinctive. "What are you mad about this time? Tris hasn't done anything. Today."

"Hey!" Tris complained.

Nevan glared at the kid. "He's been hiding from me for days, because he knows what I'll do if I catch him. You still owe this leprechaun a debt."

"Don't care. Leave him alone."

Tris snorted. "I can handle a frigging sylph. They ain't so bad-ass as they think."

Nevan's voice dropped to a menacing whisper as he slanted forward just enough to loom over Tris. "I'm at full power, tiny fae."

I slapped a hand on Nevan's chest. "Cut that out."

He drew back, but the murderous glint in his eyes remained.

Tris hunched his shoulders, his gaze on the floor. "Chill out, Nev. I absolved your girlfriend right after I left her at the vortex with you, when you was still out cold after the healing." He looked straight at Nevan. "You two better get more careful."

I gave him a sly smile, a trick I'd learned from Nevan. "Why? Are you worried about us?"

"No." The petulance in his tone sounded forced.

Nevan squinted at Tris. "You truly absolved Lindsey of her entire debt to you?"

"Yeah-yeah, like I said." Tris nodded to me. "She'd feel it if she still owed me."

Thinking back to when my debt to Tris was sealed, and recalling the similar sensation when Nevan indebted himself to me, I recognized the truth. "He's right, Nevan. I don't feel it anymore."

Nevan relaxed, pulling me against him.

Tris shook his head. "I'm outta here. I'll spew copper sludge all over this floor if I have to watch you two make out."

He made a beeline for the back door. Once the leprechaun had walked out of sight, Nevan's lips found mine. His kiss was playful, sweet, and restrained.

Probably because we were in public and I'd chastised him for trying to ravish me in any way — with his mouth, his hands, or his other assets — in view of other beings, in either realm. He'd clearly disapproved of my need for privacy, but acquiesced to my demand.

These days, when he caved to my will, I could rest easy knowing magic played no part in his decision. He did it because he loved me.

He bent his head back. "Why are you smiling?"

"I need a reason?"

"No, I suppose not."

But it irked him not to know. I'd learned this about him over the past couple weeks.

"If you must know," I said, "I was thinking how wonderful you are."

A naughty grin spread across his face. He reached down to cup my behind with both hands. "What else were you thinking?"

I poked Nevan in the ribs. "No monkey business in public, remember?"

His lips flattened, but he removed his hands from my tush.

"About what I was thinking," I said, resting my hips against the bins. "Would you like to sleep with me tonight?" When his expression brightened, his eyes flaring hot, I amended, "No sex. Just sleep. With me."

I'd expected his excitement to wilt, at least a tad, but it didn't.

He cupped my cheek — the one on my face this time. "I'd love to sleep with ye, darlin'."

That night, I slipped into my slinky nightie and slid under the covers beside him. He enveloped me in his body, one arm draped over my belly, his fingertips dancing over the fabric to tease my skin, as he'd done the first night we slept together.

I awoke the next morning to the silky brush of his lips on mine. He kept it chaste, but even the light touch, the gentle questing, stoked me to white-hot awareness. I plowed my fingers into his hair and pulled his head closer. He groaned as I plunged into his mouth, intoxicated by the scent and flavor of him.

We kissed for an hour. I was late for work, but Stan made no comment, accepting my apology.

The fourteenth day arrived.

Nevan materialized at the foot of my bed at six a.m., his approach waking me before he entered the apartment. I switched on the bedside lamp and froze when I saw his face — the tension lining his forehead, the haggard tint of his skin, the dimmed colors in his eyes.

"I've been summoned," he said. "By the tribunal."

"The what?" I scrambled across the bed to kneel at the footboard where he stood. "I don't understand."

"My people are without a king. The tribunal demands a full accounting of Skeiron's demise and my role in it, before they appoint a new ruler."

"A full accounting?" I tried to lay my hands on his bare chest, but he shuffled backward. "Are you in trouble?"

"I aided in the demise of a king. I abandoned my duty and consorted with a mortal."

Though he kept his gaze squarely on me, the starkness in it carved a gulf between us. He'd done all of those things for me.

I slid off the foot of the bed to close the distance. "We can hide across the boundary."

"No, love." He ran his hands up my arms, drawing me closer. "We can't hide from this. I must confront the consequences of my actions."

I blinked away the first sting of tears, desperate to prolong this moment, to keep him here as long as possible. "Will you come back?"

"You have my vow, I will return."

"When?"

He pulled me into him, my face buried in his neck, his arms pinning me. "When I can, love. When I can."

"What if — "

Slanting my head back with a hand on my nape, he silenced my unfinished question with a tender kiss. "Hush, Lindsey. I will always come back to you, whatever the cost."

Before I could respond, he vanished.

Days crawled by, one after another after another. I crossed them off on the calendar in my kitchen, and with each stroke of my pen, a new pang lanced my heart. Five days and no sign of Nevan. Six days. Seven.

On the eighth day, I sat alone inside my parents' motor home, in a chair that swiveled left and right with the restless movements of my feet. I'd finally convinced my parents to go home to Kentucky, where they owned an actual house — the kind with a foundation and everything. Besides, this was August and the approach of autumn signaled the close of their annual summertime sojourn.

Nevan was gone. My parents and my brother were leaving. I had Stan and Travis, but as much as I liked them — yeah, I even liked Travis again — they served as pale substitutes for the people I loved.

I clapped my feet down on the floor. My chair halted with a creak. I slumped until my butt started to slide off the chair, staring vacantly at the breakfast nook across from me.

A familiar sensation rippled through me from deep within, triggered by the pulsating tingle of magical currents in the air. The fine hairs on my arms lifted as the aroma of earth and thunderstorms tantalized my senses and anticipation enlivened every cell of my being.

I bolted upright in my chair, hands clamped over my knees. A lightness rushed through me, banishing the malaise, and my gaze rotated toward the open doorway of the motor home.

A shadow elongated through the opening.

I leaped up, kicking over a pile of comic books on the floor, and sprinted for the stairs. I stopped short, my heart soaring at the vision awaiting me at the bottom of the steps.

Nevan grinned at me with the most brilliant joy I'd ever witnessed. Though he wore his toned-down-for-mortals glamour, he looked so good I wanted to throw myself at him and lick him from head to toe like a delicious, man-size lollipop.

"There ye are, darlin'," he said. "Aren't ye glad to see me?"

Glad? The term fell woefully short of describing the overpowering high hurtling through me at the sight of him.

I held off on the licking thing, but I hurled myself at him, sailing across the distance without touching one toe on the steps. He caught me, staggered backward, and whirled us both around with my feet flying through the air.

Our lips found each other in a kiss of sheer, unbridled passion. His tongue thrust into my mouth, devouring me with powerful strokes until I went soft in his arms. When we finally broke the kiss, he held me tight with my feet still off the ground. After a few minutes of silent rapture, basking in the feel of each other, he set me down. His hands lingered on my back, cradling me.

I splayed my hands over his chest, on the pale green shirt that disguised his jaw-dropping physique. Sort of disguised it. "How'd the meeting go?"

His lips kicked up, but he ironed out the amusement. "The meeting, as you call it, went much better than expected."

"No disassembly required?"

With a soft chuckle, he shook his head. "No punishment whatsoever. In fact, the tribunal was pleased to be rid of Skeiron."

A selfish thought reared its head and I had to ask, though I bit my lip and focused on the buttons of his shirt, fingering one. "Um, do they know I'm… "

"The Janusite?" At my anxious nod, he pressed a kiss to my forehead. "No one knows except you, me, Tris, and Brennus."

"No one else?" I pulled my head back, squinting up at him. "But the entire sylph army — "

"Only one battalion knew your identity and they have since forgotten, as ensured by the fae spell. The tribunal believes the Janusite is a myth."

"Thank heavens. I'd still like to know what being the Janusite means, in terms of the bigger picture."

"We will discover the truth together. I promise you this."

I cuddled up to him, my head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart and the steady rise and fall of his breaths. We held each other for several minutes, silent and content in the warmth of each other. He moved his hands in slow circles on my back. I swirled my fingers over the back of his neck.

Finally, I said, "I owe you an answer."

"No, love. You owe me nothing."

"You're getting it anyway."

I ushered him into the motor home, shutting the door for privacy, and gestured for him to take a seat in the breakfast nook. I slid onto the bench beside him, our thighs pressed together. Hands on my lap, I braced for his reaction to what I was about to say.

"I can't live with you, Nevan."

Though his expression stayed placid, icy blue flashed in his eyes. "I see."

He moved to get up.

I grabbed his arm, urging him back down. "I'm not finished."

Mouth tight, he sat beside me again, stiff and straight, his eyes aimed out the windows across the aisle.

I scrubbed my hands on my thighs to wipe away the clamminess.

Nevan did not look at me, though one finger tapped on his thigh. "Continue."

His imperious tone bristled, but I recognized he was trying to appear unaffected because he was, in fact, very affected by my announcement.

"My family is in this world," I said. "I can't abandon them, but I want to be with you. I want us to have a relationship, like normal people."

"We are not normal."

"Yeah, but we can follow some normal customs." I grasped his hand, stilling his nervous finger. "This is called compromise, Nevan. If you want to be with me, you have to give a little."

His hand clinched mine. "All right. Compromise."

I let out the breath I'd been holding.

Angling sideways on the bench, he pulled me onto his lap. "You will spend every other night with me, in my home."

"Weekends only."

"I'll agree, as long as I spend the weeknights with you in your apartment."

"No." I rapped a finger on his chest. "That's living together."

Both hands on my hips, he tipped them into his burgeoning arousal. "I enjoy bargaining with you."

"I can tell." I wagged my finger at him. "Behave."

"Make your final offer."

"Weekends at your place. On weeknights, you can stay with me if I ask you to." I leaned in until my nose bumped his. "Agreed?"

His gaze seared into mine and a single word rolled of his tongue with sensuous promise. "Agreed."

"Thank you. Now please take me home and make love to me."

"My home or yours?"

"Don't care. Just take me."

He whisked us away. We emerged in my bedroom, where the closed curtains kept the room in twilight, even at midday.

"Tell me," he said, toying with the rivet on my jeans, "would you like to experience my full glory?"

The question rocked me. "Yes."

"I've never made love to a woman before."

"What?" I made an unladylike face. "You've been with lots of women — including me."

"I have enjoyed carnal relations with many females." He unhooked the rivet and eased the zipper down, the sound alone making my sex pulse. "I made love to none of them, because I loved none. Until you."

His hand stole inside my jeans, gliding inside my panties to palm my mound. One finger parted my folds and traced circles around the bundle of nerves at the apex of my thighs. I sucked in a breath.

"I am yours alone," he rasped, his breaths heavy. "Are you mine?"

"You know I am."

"Mmm," he murmured against my throat. "Will you be mine once I become king of the sylphs?"

Drunk on lust, I needed a few seconds to process what he'd said. As the meaning and import of it sank in, I caught his head in both my hands and forced him to look at me. "When you what?"

He moved his hand to cup my breast, and suddenly my bra felt constrictive. "The tribunal asked me to assume the mantle. I will ascend to the throne in a ceremony three days hence."

"Three days?" I tugged his face closer, peering into his eyes. "Will they let a king consort with a mere mortal?"

"I agreed to their proposal with one condition. They must accept you."

"And they said yippee, sure thing?"

"Not precisely." He raked his thumb over my rigid nipple. "But they acquiesced to my terms."

"Wow." I ran my hands down his neck, over his shoulders, fondling the muscles of his chest through his shirt. "I'm sleeping with a king."

His lips curved in a mischievous smile. "Shall I undress you slowly?"

That devious finger of his, wedged inside my panties, rubbed with strong, but mercilessly unhurried, strokes. His lips swept back and forth across my cheek, as I writhed in his hold, grinding my hips into him.

"Dammit, Nevan, vanish our clothes."

"Anything you wish, my sweet mortal goddess."

Our clothes dissolved. Cool air kissed my skin, tormenting my taut nipples. His hand dived lower and his thumb flicked across my nub, as his fingers explored my opening.

I moaned. Loudly.

He zipped us onto the bed, his hard body on top of mine. "It's time to show you all of what I can do."